How To Avoid A Hangover: Best Natural Remedies
Luckily, there are lots of natural ways to prevent hangovers because even those of us living a clean lifestyle need to kick back a few cocktails from time to time, amiright? Especially if you have health issues and slow detox pathways, even a few drinks can leave you with a 2-day hangover. So let’s fix that!
We know that a major reason for hangovers is INFLAMMATION that is caused by impurities in alcohol. (note these studies: Effects of alcohol hangover on cytokine production in healthy subjects and Alcohol, inflammation, and gut-liver-brain interactions in tissue damage and disease development.)
So how do we reduce the inflammation and toxins that result from drinking?
How To avoid a hangover
CHOOSING WHAT TO DRINK
I love this info graphic from Bulletproof Executive — it lays out alcoholic drinks from least to most toxic. BIG SURPRISE: beer and red wine are at the bottom due to high amounts of yeast, mold toxins, sulfates, histamine resulting in a huge burden on the liver and kidneys.
CLEANEST LIQUORS: clear + distilled alcohols like vodka, gin, and agave tequila are the easiest on the body to process. Dark liquors and colored/ sweetened spirits are the worst.
Stick to potato and grape vodka to avoid gluten — I am a big fan of Titos as it is triple distilled and never seems to cause me issues!
MIXERS: What you mix your drink with is just as important as the alcohol. Vodka is no longer a good choice if you’re mixing it with Red Bull or some other sugary mixer. Doing vodka soda with lime or cranberry would be ideal as it would also help to keep you hydrated.
Some great natural mixers I love that don’t have added sugars or chemicals would be Nimble Nectar (favorite flavor is tart cherry lime!) Bare Cocktail Mixers, Stirrings, or Powell & Mahoneys.
2. what to do WHILE DRINKING:
Try to drink one glass of water per cocktail — your body cannot rid toxins UNTIL they are diluted enough by water. So if you don’t drink water your body has to remove it from your tissues and THAT is what leads to major dehydration. I like to choose only drinks that come with ice, that way I at least make sure I’m diluting it!
I recently discovered DHM Detox packets (which contain alot of the ingredients listed below) and you take them with your first drink and OH MY GOSH, they work so well!! I tried them out at a friend’s wedding weekend trip by having several people try them and they all reported good results in the morning.
Also, taking activated charcoal during drinking is a great idea to bind up toxins.
3. tips for BEFORE YOU DRINK:
Even doing a few of these will help greatly!
Consider taking prickly pear extract a few hours before going out. It was demonstrated to reduce hangover symptoms by 62% in this study! It’s not only a natural anti-inflammatory, but it’s great for blood sugar stabilization (a big issue when drinking)
Alcohol depletes the body of vitamins and minerals — especially B vitamins. Take a potent B complex before drinking (extra doses of B1 if possible) and Vitamin C
400 mg Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) this is an antioxidant that aids the body in producing glutathione (our most important antioxidant and essential for detox)
Take 2 activated charcoal capsules (or whatever the equivalent of 1 dose is). Activated charcoal absorbs toxins and removes them from the body
Milk Thistle can greatly curb a hangover as it helps the liver to detox and cleanse!
4. what to take BEFORE BED
Replenish electrolytes — Liquid IV is a good option, I like the lemon lime.
Take another dose of activated charcoal.
EAT something!!! This will slow the progression of alcohol in your system.
A great thing to do the following day is to take cranberry supplements (to help cleanse the bladder) and a probiotic to aid the stomach!
Once in a while, you have to live a little or it can feel pretty isolating. I hope that the next time you do decide to have some drinks, this might help your body handle it better!
Have any tips of your own?? Leave em below so we can all benefit :)
Brit
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